(no subject)
Last Wednesday I worked half the day from home to watch Walter and his cone head (Rick was in California on business). Then around lunch time, I decided that the cone needed to go, so I simply just took the shitty thing off and my boy was ELATED. The hair around his head stood straight out, from root to tip, about six inches. It must have been waiting to just be released already! I then gave him a good brushing, which he deemed as half playtime and half massage. I made sure his nether regions looked healed (they really did) and that he wouldn’t immediately dive his face down there to investigate. Instead, he licked his belly, because well…mom can’t bathe the pee off him every single time he urinates. So I was glad it was his job again. He did start licking at the little shaved patch on his arm where they put the IV. So I sprayed that topical bitter apple spray and watched him react in such an adorably bizarre way. Once I sprayed it JUST on that little area, he immediately dropped to his side and started pushing himself across the rug…on his head. Like, hind area was up, head was down and feets were a-pushin’. He’s so dramatic. At least he isn’t licking that spot.
The other half of the day I decided to drive into work to get shit done. My boss had given me permission to work the entire day from home, but I really wanted to be around all of my work things and have my two desktop screens (sounds silly, but they really cut down on the amount of time it takes me to do most of my work tasks) and be able to get up from my seat to find the developer to ask questions regarding their formulas. That is very important. I decided, out of blind faith in my dog, to not put the cone back on. That’s a big deal, because I didn’t really know when I would get back home. I ended up working until 630, which is always interesting because the R&D building is so quiet after 530, and not getting home until 7. I found Walter patiently peering out of the living room window waiting for me to walk through the garage area. I immediately got changed and took him for his second long walk. He was so excited and happy and glowed brilliantly with his white coat that I am always astonished how he remains so clean with minimal baths.
Walking Walter can be a big to-do, especially after work hours. People are out and about either sitting on their stoops or walking or enjoying outside dining areas, so I get stopped a lot because they want to pet him and ask about what the hell kind of dog is this??? Some people are very shy about it and say, “can I touch your dog? I just need to know how soft he is.” They are always pleased. Walter is a schmoozer and draws most people in by his loving, albeit sometimes aggressive, personality. I have tried to train him not to jump and he does stop, but it’s always that initial interaction he can’t help himself. Puppies. Well…Samoyed puppies. There are others that are afraid of him, because he looks like a white wolf. They will shield their children and/or their small dogs from Walter’s curious nose. I always keep him close by when we pass people out of courtesy. But man, I feel so sad when Walter lifts his little black nose to sniff a passing pant leg and they recoil with this look of “control your DOG” on their face. That’s when Walter gets a hug from me. He’s more than loved enough.
Walter when I first removed his cone:
This weekend was really such a great one. Friday night Rick took me on a DATE. We got sushi at Zento in Olde City, and then moved to Primestache down the street. We really liked it! They made me an amazing cocktail, which I forget the name of. It involved vodka infused with strawberries, pineapple, lime and balsamic. I sipped at it in the beginning, but then basically suck it down, because it was so good. We ended up staying out for about 5 hours, just the two of us. We spoke about our relationship and he put away his man ego and admitted to noticing how well I keep the apartment and how I always clean the kitchen and keep things wiped down and organized. How I make sure the pantry remains nice. How I fold his laundry, because he forgets to take it out of the dryer often. How I don't "nag" him about not doing these things himself like I used to. Rick also said that he thinks about sex and specifically me and sex a lot. Before we left on our date, I put on a black dress, which he loved. Then he watched me reach up to grab a hanging plant near the window (to water it) and said he was turned on just watching my dress slide up the back a little. I said: "why didn't you try anything??" And he responded with: "well, I thought since you were ready to go you would get upset...and, I don't know." I responded with: "be assertive! I like assertive! I need assertive. I can take the lead sometimes, but I really need you to, as well." Rick agreed. So while at Primestache, we faced each other at the bar and he had his hands on my legs and was smiling a lot. The level of care and shared attraction felt like when we first met and it really SHOULD be that way. I mean, we've only been together for a year and a half. His lack of emoting/focus has led to where we have been. I made the changes a long while ago that he requested of me (stop nitpicking, communicate with him more frequently when he is traveling so he's not worried or wondering what I am up to), but he really hasn't made much progress on what I have asked. These past two weeks or so have shown his willingness to change. If it continues, then fantastic! I get that person I fell in love with. If not, then it won't be a huge shock to me anymore and I will need to revisit the moving plans. So far though, I am really looking forward to sharing this summer with him and he has vocalized loving the ideas of where to go with Walter. Even though I need to come up with the ideas, I like that there is no longer any resistance. We shall see! I am not 100% hopeful yet, but feeling very positive.
This week Summer Friday Hours begin. You work a little extra Monday through Thursday, and then you can leave around 2pm on Fridays until Labor Day. Woo! Most people check out after lunch, which seems to be a totally acceptable practice since I've worked here, which has been nearly 6 years. I'm hoping I can even participate in Summer Hours. The work load has been very heavy with pockets of uncertainty, due to little fires that start up here and there. But since everyone else in Product Development definitely abides by Summer Hours, I'm hoping I won't get urgent emails Friday morning asking shit to get done by the afternoon. Who knows. I'm still excited.
This weekend I made a cold quinoa salad for a friend's party. I made extra and, while at the party, Rick was scarfing down the bit that I brought. He said to me: "can we always have this in the frig just at hand? I will make sure you have the ingredients. It's just so good!" This is HUGE, by the way. The due usually only eats chicken, oatmeal, eggs and snacks, unless he eats out, which is seldom. Paula was the one that shared the recipe with me and it's very healthy, low in fat with no added salt.
Ingredients:
Multi-colored quinoa
edameme (shelled and steamed)
Red/Yellow/Orange bell peppers
Cherry or grape tomatoes
Chopped red onion (sometimes I don't even have this in there)
Cilantro
Squeezed lemon as the dressing
Cook the quinoa and steam the edemame. Make sure both are cooled before mixing in all the other chopped ingredients. Add the squeezed lemon juice at the end. Refrigerate. Serve cold. It's great! I've been adding onion and garlic cloves to the quinoa while it's cooking so it can absorb the flavor. Obviously discard garlic cloves when quinoa is finished cooking.
I also made Gelato-style still-freeze pumpkin ice cream for Rick! It turned out very well and I didn't add too much flavor. Rick said it was perfect and asked for seconds. :D
Ingredients:
Whole Milk
Heavy Cream
Granulated Sugar
Corn Starch/Arrowroot/Potato Starch
Pumpkin Puree extract
Pumpkin Spice (the easy-peazy combo dry spice you can buy)
I won't go into the directions, but I followed the directions on this website http://www.icecreamnation.org/freezer-only-make/
She has many creation options and it's fun to see someone sharing the food science behind it all. Her science-y explanation of emulsions, emulsifiers, ice crystals and the effects of flavors/sweeteners is spot on, btw.
The entire process takes all day, due to having to wait until the ice cream base cools, and then freezes. Also making sure you churn it once in a while to encourage the release of any air and to make it creamier. But overall, I was out and about all of Saturday and managed to make the quinoa dish and the ice cream relatively effortlessly.
Crappy dark picture I took last night:
These next photos are from the weekend before the one that just passed. I was in Ocean City Saturday and Sunday to Mother's Day. Hung out with my parents, Paula, Rick and Mirabelle a lot. We walked on the boardwalk, sat in the sun on their deck and made foods. It was really an ideal weekend.
Here are a few pictures Paula sent me this past week of Mirabelle being a perfect looking infant:
Andddd these are from yesterday's mini photo op with Walter:
A truly busy and good life. ^_^
The other half of the day I decided to drive into work to get shit done. My boss had given me permission to work the entire day from home, but I really wanted to be around all of my work things and have my two desktop screens (sounds silly, but they really cut down on the amount of time it takes me to do most of my work tasks) and be able to get up from my seat to find the developer to ask questions regarding their formulas. That is very important. I decided, out of blind faith in my dog, to not put the cone back on. That’s a big deal, because I didn’t really know when I would get back home. I ended up working until 630, which is always interesting because the R&D building is so quiet after 530, and not getting home until 7. I found Walter patiently peering out of the living room window waiting for me to walk through the garage area. I immediately got changed and took him for his second long walk. He was so excited and happy and glowed brilliantly with his white coat that I am always astonished how he remains so clean with minimal baths.
Walking Walter can be a big to-do, especially after work hours. People are out and about either sitting on their stoops or walking or enjoying outside dining areas, so I get stopped a lot because they want to pet him and ask about what the hell kind of dog is this??? Some people are very shy about it and say, “can I touch your dog? I just need to know how soft he is.” They are always pleased. Walter is a schmoozer and draws most people in by his loving, albeit sometimes aggressive, personality. I have tried to train him not to jump and he does stop, but it’s always that initial interaction he can’t help himself. Puppies. Well…Samoyed puppies. There are others that are afraid of him, because he looks like a white wolf. They will shield their children and/or their small dogs from Walter’s curious nose. I always keep him close by when we pass people out of courtesy. But man, I feel so sad when Walter lifts his little black nose to sniff a passing pant leg and they recoil with this look of “control your DOG” on their face. That’s when Walter gets a hug from me. He’s more than loved enough.
Walter when I first removed his cone:
This weekend was really such a great one. Friday night Rick took me on a DATE. We got sushi at Zento in Olde City, and then moved to Primestache down the street. We really liked it! They made me an amazing cocktail, which I forget the name of. It involved vodka infused with strawberries, pineapple, lime and balsamic. I sipped at it in the beginning, but then basically suck it down, because it was so good. We ended up staying out for about 5 hours, just the two of us. We spoke about our relationship and he put away his man ego and admitted to noticing how well I keep the apartment and how I always clean the kitchen and keep things wiped down and organized. How I make sure the pantry remains nice. How I fold his laundry, because he forgets to take it out of the dryer often. How I don't "nag" him about not doing these things himself like I used to. Rick also said that he thinks about sex and specifically me and sex a lot. Before we left on our date, I put on a black dress, which he loved. Then he watched me reach up to grab a hanging plant near the window (to water it) and said he was turned on just watching my dress slide up the back a little. I said: "why didn't you try anything??" And he responded with: "well, I thought since you were ready to go you would get upset...and, I don't know." I responded with: "be assertive! I like assertive! I need assertive. I can take the lead sometimes, but I really need you to, as well." Rick agreed. So while at Primestache, we faced each other at the bar and he had his hands on my legs and was smiling a lot. The level of care and shared attraction felt like when we first met and it really SHOULD be that way. I mean, we've only been together for a year and a half. His lack of emoting/focus has led to where we have been. I made the changes a long while ago that he requested of me (stop nitpicking, communicate with him more frequently when he is traveling so he's not worried or wondering what I am up to), but he really hasn't made much progress on what I have asked. These past two weeks or so have shown his willingness to change. If it continues, then fantastic! I get that person I fell in love with. If not, then it won't be a huge shock to me anymore and I will need to revisit the moving plans. So far though, I am really looking forward to sharing this summer with him and he has vocalized loving the ideas of where to go with Walter. Even though I need to come up with the ideas, I like that there is no longer any resistance. We shall see! I am not 100% hopeful yet, but feeling very positive.
This week Summer Friday Hours begin. You work a little extra Monday through Thursday, and then you can leave around 2pm on Fridays until Labor Day. Woo! Most people check out after lunch, which seems to be a totally acceptable practice since I've worked here, which has been nearly 6 years. I'm hoping I can even participate in Summer Hours. The work load has been very heavy with pockets of uncertainty, due to little fires that start up here and there. But since everyone else in Product Development definitely abides by Summer Hours, I'm hoping I won't get urgent emails Friday morning asking shit to get done by the afternoon. Who knows. I'm still excited.
This weekend I made a cold quinoa salad for a friend's party. I made extra and, while at the party, Rick was scarfing down the bit that I brought. He said to me: "can we always have this in the frig just at hand? I will make sure you have the ingredients. It's just so good!" This is HUGE, by the way. The due usually only eats chicken, oatmeal, eggs and snacks, unless he eats out, which is seldom. Paula was the one that shared the recipe with me and it's very healthy, low in fat with no added salt.
Ingredients:
Multi-colored quinoa
edameme (shelled and steamed)
Red/Yellow/Orange bell peppers
Cherry or grape tomatoes
Chopped red onion (sometimes I don't even have this in there)
Cilantro
Squeezed lemon as the dressing
Cook the quinoa and steam the edemame. Make sure both are cooled before mixing in all the other chopped ingredients. Add the squeezed lemon juice at the end. Refrigerate. Serve cold. It's great! I've been adding onion and garlic cloves to the quinoa while it's cooking so it can absorb the flavor. Obviously discard garlic cloves when quinoa is finished cooking.
I also made Gelato-style still-freeze pumpkin ice cream for Rick! It turned out very well and I didn't add too much flavor. Rick said it was perfect and asked for seconds. :D
Ingredients:
Whole Milk
Heavy Cream
Granulated Sugar
Corn Starch/Arrowroot/Potato Starch
Pumpkin Puree extract
Pumpkin Spice (the easy-peazy combo dry spice you can buy)
I won't go into the directions, but I followed the directions on this website http://www.icecreamnation.org/freezer-only-make/
She has many creation options and it's fun to see someone sharing the food science behind it all. Her science-y explanation of emulsions, emulsifiers, ice crystals and the effects of flavors/sweeteners is spot on, btw.
The entire process takes all day, due to having to wait until the ice cream base cools, and then freezes. Also making sure you churn it once in a while to encourage the release of any air and to make it creamier. But overall, I was out and about all of Saturday and managed to make the quinoa dish and the ice cream relatively effortlessly.
Crappy dark picture I took last night:
These next photos are from the weekend before the one that just passed. I was in Ocean City Saturday and Sunday to Mother's Day. Hung out with my parents, Paula, Rick and Mirabelle a lot. We walked on the boardwalk, sat in the sun on their deck and made foods. It was really an ideal weekend.
Here are a few pictures Paula sent me this past week of Mirabelle being a perfect looking infant:
Andddd these are from yesterday's mini photo op with Walter:
A truly busy and good life. ^_^